Century, Mitsubishi investing P28B in mass housing tie-up

PHirst Park Homes, the mass housing venture of Century Properties Group (CPG) and Mitsubishi Corp., has committed to invest P28 billion to roll out a series of master-planned communities outside Metro Manila in the next five years.

This is to bring to the property market P57 billion worth of new housing inventory consisting of 33,000 residential units priced for as low as P1 million to no more than P6 million, helping to ease the country’s increasing housing backlog.

Ricky Celis, president and CEO of PHirst Park Homes, said 15 self-sufficient communities would be launched within the next five years in Calabarzon and Central Luzon.

“The company is also eyeing expansion into the Visayas and Mindanao regions once it has established technical and market scale,” Celis said.

PHirst Park Homes’ maiden launch was in Tanza, Cavite, which has already sold out its first phase of 1,200 units valued at around P1.4 billion. Around 600 units of town homes and single attached models are expected to be completed within the year.

In June this year, the company also launched PHirst Park Homes Lipa, a 20-hectare development in Lipa City, Batangas with 1,867 units valued at P2.8 billion.

During the launch of the newly formed venture at the Shangri-La Hotel in BGC on Thursday night, Celis said the initial projects targeted price points of P1.1 to P1.2 million for the town homes and P2 to P2.5 million for the single attached homes. Target buyers are end-user households with a combined income of P30,000 to P80,000 monthly.

The buyer is required to put in equity equivalent to 10 percent of the unit price, amortized for 12 months. As early as the 13th month after purchase, they can already move in.

The town homes have a typical footprint of 40 square meters on a 44-sqm lot, while single attached units have a footprint of 54 sqm on an 88-sqm lot.

The joint venture company is 60-percent and 40-percent owned by CPG and Mitsubishi, respectively.

PHirst Park Homes chair Carlo Antonio said tapping low-cost financing from Japanese banks was one of the group’s options in funding the P28-billion capital outlay.

“We are pleased to announce this new chapter in the company’s history of serving the housing needs of our Filipino first home buyers in a much larger scale. It has always been Century’s desire to contribute to nation-building, and through PHirst Park Homes we will provide the increasing middle-class segment with quality homes that inspire pride of ownership,” Century Properties chair and CEO Jose E.B. Antonio said.

CPG’s foray into the first homebuyer market is part of the company’s ongoing portfolio expansion. From concentrating in high-rise condominium projects, CPG has entered into allied real estate segments including affordable horizontal housing, leisure and tourism developments and for-lease properties.

Mitsubishi brings to the partnership its expertise in development and technology. It is in businesses across different industries, including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals and daily living essentials.